Chapter 5 - THE DEAD WOMANThe police did not tell Victoria about the photograph.
Not immediately.
Ethan didn't want panic spreading through the building before they knew what they were dealing with.
I spent the next hour staring at old records.
Vera Mercer.
Birth date.
Marriage certificate.
Death certificate.
Hospital records.
Obituary.
Everything said the same thing.
Dead.
Six years ago.
Cancer.
Buried in Arlington.
Yet a child had just described her.
Maybe Mason was mistaken.
Maybe it was another woman.
Maybe fear had blurred his memory.
But one detail bothered me.
The scar.
It matched the only photograph I could find of Vera.
A thin scar under the left eye.
I called Ethan.
“You saw the photo?”
“Yes.”
“And Mason independently described the same scar.”
“Yes.”
“That can't be coincidence.”
“No.”
Victoria overheard part of the conversation.
“What are you talking about?”
Ethan hesitated.
I told her.
She became furious.
“You're blaming me for some ghost story?”
“No one is blaming you.”
“You always do this.”
“Victoria.”
She stopped.
I heard something in her voice.
Fear.
Not anger.
Fear.
“Lauren,” she whispered.
“What?”
“Before we came here…”
She stopped.
“Tell me.”
Victoria sat down.
“A woman contacted me three weeks ago.”
My entire body went still.
“Who?”
“She said she could help me.”
“With what?”
“Money.”
“How much?”
“A lot.”
“How much?”
“Enough to pay the debts.”
I closed my eyes.
“How did she know about your debts?”
“I don't know.”
“What did she want?”
Victoria looked toward Ethan.
“She wanted me to sign something.”
“What?”
“A property agreement.”
My voice hardened.
“Which property?”
She didn't answer.
“Victoria.”
“My father's house.”
“Our father's house?”
“Yes.”
I felt cold.
“What did she offer?”
“She said the penthouse would eventually be mine.”
“Eventually?”
“In 2031.”
I stared at the screen.
The notebook.
The final transfer.
The date.
Everything connected.
“What else?”
Victoria's face crumbled.
“She said our mother had already arranged it.”
“Did she mention Daniel Mercer?”
Victoria nodded.
“She said the whole family had been involved.”
Ethan stepped closer.
“Did she show you documents?”
“Yes.”
“Where are they?”
Victoria pointed to the metal case.
“Under the laptop.”
Ethan opened another compartment.
Inside was a USB drive.
A sticker had been placed on it.
L.B.
Lauren Bennett.
My initials.
But I'd never seen it before.
Ethan inserted the drive into an isolated computer.
There were twelve files.
Financial records.
Property deeds.
Photographs.
And a video.
He played it.
The recording showed my mother sitting at a table.
Daniel Mercer sat beside her.
And someone else was there.
Victoria.
Younger.
Maybe thirteen.
I stared.
“What the hell?”
Victoria's mouth fell open.
“I don't remember this.”
The video began.
My mother spoke.
“Everything has to remain in the family.”
Daniel said, “The transfer cannot occur until Lauren reaches the trigger date.”
“What trigger date?”
Daniel looked at the camera.
“2031.”
My mother nodded.
“And Victoria?”
Daniel answered, “She receives the property once the conditions are satisfied.”
I felt sick.
My mother looked directly into the camera.
“Lauren can never know.”
The video ended.
Nobody spoke.
I replayed it.
Then again.
Victoria was crying.
“My God.”
Ethan looked at me.
“Do you remember why your mother preferred Victoria?”
“Yes.”
“She may have had a financial reason.”
I stared at the frozen frame.
“Why didn't she just tell Victoria?”
Ethan shook his head.
“She didn't need to.”
“Then who did?”
He looked at the file names.
One had been recently modified.
VERA_FINAL
We opened it.
There was a photograph.
Vera Mercer.
Alive.
Taken four months ago.
Standing outside a private bank in Maryland.
My hands shook.
“Ethan.”
“I see it.”
Then another file opened automatically.
A bank statement.
Account holder:
Bennett Family Trust
Beneficiary:
Victoria Bennett
Trust administrator:
Daniel Mercer
Last transaction:
$3,500,000.
Date:
Six days ago.
My heart stopped.
“Daniel is alive.”
Ethan nodded.
“And he's moving money.”
Then the screen flashed.
A new file appeared.
MESSAGE_FOR_LAUREN
I clicked it.
A single line appeared.
Your family did not steal your future. They built it.
Then another.
They only forgot one thing.
A pause.
May you like
Then:
I built the trap too.
